The characters in yours, and every, March Madness office pool

Every March Madness pool has one winner and a bunch of losers. Somewhere in between or among them all, it has most, if not all of these people too.

Plato once said that “more can be discovered about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation”.  If he hadn’t been so busy developing modern philosophy, psychology, and political theories that were centuries ahead of their time, maybe Plato would have started a bracket and pool of some kind surrounding the Olympics. Maybe he did and that tablet or scroll didn’t survive?

I doubt it though. Otherwise, that quote would have been something along the lines of “more can be discovered about a person in one tournament pool than in hours of play or years of conversation”.

With the first round of tournament games in the rear-view mirror, you probably now know more about some of your co-workers than totality of what you’d learned over the past six to twelve months.

I’m only an amateur philosopher/psychologist but I’ve combined my knowledge from Philosophy 101, three Psychology classes (before I switched majors the first time), and several years of being in NCAA Tournament pools to define and break down the different people who exist within the sphere of the office tournament pool.

Some show themselves before Selection Sunday, some during the couple of days leading up, some throughout, and some only after the nets come down. Whatever the case, this cast of characters is as much a part of the tournament as are the upsets, bracket busters, and crying fans that get way too much camera time.